Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a supply apparatus, a printing apparatus, and an attachment method.
Description of the Related Art
As an inkjet printing apparatus which mainly prints an image on a large-sized printing medium, a printing apparatus is proposed which includes an ink tank detachably from an apparatus main body and supplies ink to a printhead via a tube. A supplying portion such as a supply needle is provided in a containing portion of the ink tank, and the ink tank is detachable from the supplying portion. In order to use up the ink in the tank, a joint portion serving as a supply port is provided at the bottom of the ink tank, and the ink tank is detachable from the supplying portion in the vertical direction.
A predetermined force may be required to attach/detach the joint portion of the ink tank to/from the supplying portion. For example, when the supply needle is used, the ink in the ink tank can be supplied to the apparatus by inserting/removing the supply needle into/from the joint portion of the ink tank. A predetermined force is required to insert/remove the supply needle, and thus a mechanism which assists insertion/removal operations of a user is proposed. For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2013-212683 discloses a mechanism which assists insertion/removal operations by rotating an operation handle (operation lever).
A lift operation of moving the ink tank up and down with respect to the supplying portion is needed in order to mount/remove the ink tank in/from the containing portion. In particular, the amount of that movement becomes large in a lift operation of a compact ink tank for an arrangement in which ink tanks having different volumes are contained in the common containing portion. In an arrangement in which the operation handle is rotated, the operation handle rotates and becomes unstable in the lift operation.